Composite materials find an ever increasing place in the construction of aircrafts. Composite parts made from such materials have to meet stringent requirements, such as those related to fire, smoke and toxicity while being as light as possible while still being sufficiently stiff for their application. Moreover, it does not hurt if the part is as cheap as possible. Such is the case of air ventilation ducts used inside an aircraft.
Typically, such parts are made of thermoset composite materials, which are quite labor intensive to manufacture, and consequently expensive. Furthermore, because these parts need to be made from many pieces of composite material overlapping one another, the part is relatively heavy. Thermoplastics that come in sheets have slowly made their place in this market. Typically, the sheets are cut, heated and formed in two halves which are later bonded together. Again, although a bit less work intensive than working with thermoset composite materials, this process still requires a fair amount of labor. Although often lighter than their thermoset counterparts, there is always a competition to manufacture the lightest part in the market.
There is therefore a need for a part made from a composite material that is lighter and ideally also less labor intensive to manufacture than existing composite parts.